Hair dryer



A. ZEMOUR May 2, 1961 HAIR DRYER Filed May 25, 1958 INV EN TOR $5587.ZZ-vvame ATTORNEY United States Patent HAIR DRYER Albert Zemour,Chatillon-sous-Bagnenx, France, assignor to DitedisDilfusion-Technique-Distribution, Paris,

France, a corporation. of France:

Filed May 23, 1958, Ser, No. 737,244. Claims priority,-applicationFrance ,June 1, 1957 2 Claims. cue-1001 The present invention relates toa hair dryer which has fan, is only in contact with air which hasalready been humidified and cooled;;, In consegugnpe, the drying ofthetop, of ,the head is very s19, In order to,c.ornplete this drying, itis necessary tofprolong in an undesirable manner the drying of thecontour of the hair close to the walls of the drying helmet, whichcauses local over-heating with dehydration of the hair and theproduction of static electricity which is troublesome for subsequentwork on the hair. The dryer in accordance with this invention has forits object to remedy these drawbacks and to elfect in a rapid manner adrying which is comparable in its efiects to natural drying.

The dryer is characterised in that, on the path of the hot aircirculated by the fan along the wall of the helmet, there are arrangedone or more means for guiding a portion of this hot air, bringing itinto the central zone corresponding to the hair on the top of the head,during the course of drying.

In particular, as a guiding means, use is made of frusto-conicaldeflectors concentric with the wall of the helmet and spaced aparttherefrom, the said deflectors diverting the hot air so as to compel itto flow into the central zone of the helmet.

By this means, the blown air is distributed in a balanced manner betweenthe top of the hair and the contour of the hair. There is obtained anefiective and rapid drying under good conditions of comfort andpleasure, without over-heating and without undesirable production ofstatic electricity. To these advantages is added a substantial economyin electric current.

There may be any number of these frusto-conical defiectors. There is anadvantage in providing at least two of them, in order to form multiplepassages which guide and distribute the hot diverted air towards thecentral zone. In the passages between successive deflectors, it isadvisable to provide fixed fins or vanes, which on the one handdistribute the hot air into the passage, and on the other hand tend toprevent production of vortex movements of the hot air.

The dryer, thus provided with guiding deflectors for the air in thecentral zone of the helmet, is provided with heating means constitutedby electric resistance elements. In particular, it is an advantage toarrange these resistance elements in the vicinity of the deflectors.

I In accordance with a particular construction, these resistanceelements are in the form of rings in suitable 2,982,030 Patented May 2,1961 24-. glass tubes. It ,is'preferably to, provide-two concentricrings which can beput into use separately or simultaneon sly,dependingonthe intensity: of heating to be obtained.

With these heating rings in the vicinity of'thedeflectors; there isobtained a good' efiectivenessofheating, theair beingpreferentiallyhated in its portion which is directed towards the crownof the hair. V

The accompanying drawings show byway of example one. formof construction,of the dryer in accordance witlr the invention. i

Fig. 1 is a viewof. the dryer, in longitudinal'cross; section. j V

Fig. 2'is aview in cross-section taken alongthe line- II -II of Fig, 1.

Fig. 3 is a partial view in cross-sectionofan alternative form.

Thedryer, is composed ofjahelmet in three portions assembled, together:an ,entry portion 10 a .body 11 and afbottQm 12. 1 6. body 1.1 comprisesa fullbase 13; which carries the fan 14 with its motor 15,; thelatter ber ge n. the. bott m 12,.

In r n f. he an Hismo ntedaprote r ar d; carried, by rods 17 fix ed onthe bottom 1,3,1

h same s. 7 J also. e vet s ppo t t deflectors 19- he at er. re. o m dotrbncentric. ne t d frustogconical; elements. They de=limit a, passage.20 which iv rts. apa t .Q ...h..- '9t i blqwn..pe .nh ral y. y thefan'14, and'guides it towards the centralz one 219: the helmet on thetop of the hair. i

One of the deflectors, 18 for example, carries fins 22 which divide thepassage 20 into radial channels and prevent the production of vorticesof the hot air passing along this passage 20.

With the deflectors 18, 19, there can be used the usual heating meansfor hair-dryers, in particular, electric resistance elements arranged inthe vicinity of the wall of the body 11, so as to be swept by the airblown by the fan 14. There is however an advantage in arranging thisheating in such manner as to make its effect more marked in cooperationwith the deflectors 18 and 19.

As shown in Fig. 1, in this case the heating is pro- 'vided by annularresistance elements mounted in glass tubes 23 and 24, which is resistantto heat (Pyrex glass for example). These resistance elements arearranged concentrically in the vicinity of the protective grid 16 at theside of the fan 14. The resistance element 23 is placed opposite theopening 25 of the passage 20 formed between the deflectors 18 and 19.The resistance element 24 is arranged in the interior of the resistanceelement 23.

In practice, during drying, the inner annular resistance.

element 24 is kept continuously at work: it ensures the maintenance ofthe temperatures of the air drawn-in by the fan 14. The annular outerresistance element 23 serves as a supplementary heating device and iscontrolled by a thermostatic regulator.

A lamp 26 is mounted inside the helmet to light its interior and servesas a check for the application of electric current. The entry portion 10of the helmet, which is preferably of transparent material (Plexiglasfor example) is provided with fins 27.

The helmet thus constituted is mounted on a housing 28 which carries thearticulation 29 pivoting with the foot 30. In this housing 28 aremounted the members 31 and 32 which control the fan and the heating,together with their regulation. A screw 33 co-operating with a heel 34of the pivot 29 serves to adjust the angle of the helmet on the foot 30.

In the dryer so constructed, the air delivered by the fan 14 is dividedinto two streams, one following the arrow A along the wall of the helmetand the other into the passage 20 following the arrow B, which isdirected on to the central portion ofthe helmet and thus on to the topof the hair. The top of the head is thus dried by a direct deflected andhot flow of airand not by the return of air from the periphery.Thernoist air drawn-in at the-center along the arrow is immediatelydried by the resistance element 24 before again passing through theprevious cycle;

a With this dryer, the drying period for a normal head of hair is of theorder of 12 minutes,,while the usual dryers require at least 30 minutesunder the helmet. In a general manner, this period is reduced by about70% as compared with the usual period, which is greatly appreciated bythe hairdresser's clients. This gain of time is also'accompaniedbyreduced periods of use of the dryer and a betterutiliza'tionof theequipment. The power consumed is also reduced in. aproportion or about80%.

In addition, the dryer according to the invention only requires amoderate heat. For this reason, and because of. the shortduration ofdrying, the dried hair is not de-hydrated, but remains flexible andglossy. Also the hair is not electrified, so that it is easy to dress itafterwards without being troubled by the static electricity produced bythe drying. v

Instead of the deflectors 18 and 19 or in combination with these, theremay be provided in the "icinity of the wall 11 of the helmet (Fig. 3) adeflector comprising a cylindrical portion 35 and ,a frusto-conicalportion 36, the function of which is to divide and deflect the currentbf hot air close to'the wall so as to'direct a part of it towards thecentral zone of the dryer and the top of the head.

The deflectors 18 and 19, and also the deflector 35- 36 can be displacedin the longitudinal direction, depending on the distribution effectswhich it is desired to obtain for the blown air.

What I claim is: L

1. A hair dryer comprising a member forming a helmet enclosing the headof a person having a fan for blowing air, a deflector unit positionedadjacent said fan having at least two concentric and nested deflectorspositioned to define oblique passages to the axis of said deflector unitto direct'air-along parallel paths onto the crown and other portions ofthe head respectively, an-

so U

nularv heating elements-positioned between said fan and said unit forheating the air blown by said fan, one of said annular heating'elementsbeing placed at the entrance of one of said passages, and another ofsaid annular heating elements arranged concentrically with and insidesaid one element.

2. A hair dryer according to claim 1 in which a supply of electricalenergy is connected to said heating elements, and means for separatelycontrolling said supply to said heating elements.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,207,201 Kurth July 9, 1940 2,656,782 Labus Oct. 27, 1953 2,718,067Carson Sept. 20, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS I 644,644 Great Britain Oct. 18,1950

